UK CHP plant receives planning approval

Renewable energy company Estover Energy's biomass-fired CHP plant has been granted planning consent.

The £65 million (€76.5 million) plant, to be built at Discovery Park in Kent, was awarded consent by Dover District Council. It will generate renewable heat and power across the 220 acre site. It will also supply low carbon electricity to the national grid, supporting the UK's national target to generate 15% of its energy demand from renewable sources by 2020.

The new facility will use conventional CHP steam turbine technology to generate 11-15MW of power and 8-12MW of heat, which would be enough energy to supply the equivalent of 21,000 homes with electricity.

The biomass plant will use locally sourced low-grade wood fuel from local forestry and woodlands, typically within an average distance of 80 miles.

Andrew Troup, Development Director, Estover Energy, says: 'Our new biomass plant will help meet the energy challenges of the next two decades; it will be a great boost to the local economy and will stimulate long-overdue investment in the southeast's woodlands.'

Construction is forecast to begin in spring 2014.